Here is a bold history of economics - the dramatic story of how the great economic thinkers built today's rigorous social science. Noted financial writer and economist Mark Skousen has revised and updated this popular work to provide more material on Adam Smith and Karl Marx, and expanded coverage of Joseph Stiglitz, 'imperfect' markets, and behavioral economics.This comprehensive, yet accessible introduction to the major economic philosophers of the past 225 years begins with Adam Smith and continues through the present day. The text examines the contributions made by each individual to our understanding of the role of the economist, the science of economics, and economic theory. To make the work more engaging, boxes in each chapter highlight little-known - and often amusing - facts about the economists' personal lives that affected their work.

This book examines William Stanley Jevons's role in revolutionizing nineteenth-century economics.

The Making of Modern Economics presents a bold and engaging history of economics—the dramatic story of how the great economic thinkers built today's rigorous social science. This comprehensive yet accessible introduction to the major economic philosophers begins with Adam Smith and continues through to the present day. It examines the contributions each one made to our understanding of the role of the economist, the science of economics and economic theory. Boxes in each chapter highlight little-known and entertaining facts about the economists' personal lives that had an influence on their work. The fourth edition adds coverage of modern monetary theory, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, minimum wage debates, Schumpeter and socialism, Malthus and immigration, and more. The Making of Modern Economics is a valuable, engaging text for courses in the history of economic thought and political economy.

The 8th Edition of Contemporary Economics continues to offer a clear, concise presentation of basic micro- and macroeconomic theory. Emphasising how the discipline of economics connects to the world, the book takes a friendly and accessible tone, illustrating theory with applications. This new edition comes with updated applications and data to reflect the changing world events since the previous edition was published. With a vast range of updated applications, the handbook uses real world, globally relevant examples that make the subject easy to understand. New and updated topics include: Energy and oil Economic sanctions on Russia and Iran The Eurozone Crisis The Trans-Pacific Partnership China and the world currency market Including a Companion Website complete with instructor’s manual, lecture slides and test bank, as well as an online study guide and multiple choice questions for students, Contemporary Economics is suitable for both economics students and non-majors studying economics and economic issues at the introductory level.

Here is a bold history of economics - the dramatic story of how the great economic thinkers built today's rigorous social science. Noted financial writer and economist Mark Skousen has revised and updated this popular work to provide more material on Adam Smith and Karl Marx, and expanded coverage of Joseph Stiglitz, 'imperfect' markets, and behavioral economics.This comprehensive, yet accessible introduction to the major economic philosophers of the past 225 years begins with Adam Smith and continues through the present day. The text examines the contributions made by each individual to our understanding of the role of the economist, the science of economics, and economic theory. To make the work more engaging, boxes in each chapter highlight little-known - and often amusing - facts about the economists' personal lives that affected their work.

Main Currents in Modem Economics deserves to be the classic it is. At the time of its original publication in 1962, Ben Seligman, a scholar’s scholar, had immersed himself in the development of economic thought since 1870. This product of his efforts is truly timeless. Why is Main Currents still modern and surprisingly up-to-date? For Seligman, the story begins with the revolt of German historical writers against the rigidity of classical doctrine, a natural starting point for contemporary theory. He takes us from the world of Thorstein Veblen to Galbraith’s theory of countervailing power and the affluent society—worlds that he makes us understand are not so far apart., Seligman also shows us how the doctrines begin to repeat themselves. Tradition is reaffirmed with the rediscovery of marginalism by Jevons, the Austrians, and J. B. Clark. A more neutral version of “equilibrium economics” is supplied by Leon Walras and Vilfredo Pareto, a main current of thought extended by John R. Hicks and Paul A. Samuelson. Seligman characterizes the principal trait of modern doctrine as the use of technique for its own sake. Dismissing G.L.S. Shackle’s writing on uncertainty, he criticizes Shackle’s use of continuous rather than discontinuous function., Main Currents may have been published too soon to be fully appreciated. Selig-man’s focus on the thrust toward technique now has a ring of truth that can no longer be ignored. As Ray Canterbery notes in his introduction, in some respects only the names of the players have changed, and Main Currents’ pertinence to today’s issues is self-evident. Economics has moved so deeply into technique that the next generation may have to rediscover the past in order to find its way out. Seligman s book is a good place to begin the journey.

Discusses economists such as Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, Irving Fisher, Thorstein Veblen, Frederic Bastiat, Eugen Bohm-Bawerk, Edward A. Chamberlin, John Bates Clark, David Colander, Peter F. Drucker, Frank Fetter, Milton Friedman, John Kenneth Galbraith, Roger B. Garrison, Henry George, Friedrich Hayek, Henry Hazlitt, G.W.F. Hegel, Robert Heilbroner, David Hume, William H. Hutt, William Stanley Jevons, John Maynard Keynes, Frank H. Knight, Alfred Marshall, Jenny Marx, Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises, Wesley C. Mitchell, Charles Montesquieu, Arthur C. Pigou, Francois Quesnay, David Ricardo, Joan Robinson, Murray N. Rothbard, Paul A. Samuelson, J.-B. Say, Joseph A. Schumpeter, Anna J. Schwartz, Henry C. Simmons, Mark Skousen, Herbert Spencer, George Stigler, Alexis de Toqueville, Leon Walras, Max Weber, Knut Wicksell, Friedrich von Wieser, and others.

Of all the areas of contemporary thought, economics seems the most resistant to the destabilizing effects of postmodernism. Yet, David Ruccio and Jack Amariglio argue that one can detect, within the diverse schools of thought that comprise the discipline of economics, "moments" that defy the modernist ideas to which many economists and methodologists remain wedded. This is the first book to document the existence and to explore the implications of the postmodern moments in modern economics. Ruccio and Amariglio begin with a powerful argument for the general relevance of postmodernism to contemporary economic thought. They then conduct a series of case studies in six key areas of economics. From the idea of the "multiple self" and notions of uncertainty and information, through market anomalies and competing concepts of value, to analytical distinctions based on gender and academic standing, economics is revealed as defying the modernist frame of a singular science. The authors conclude by showing how economic theory would change if the postmodern elements were allowed to flourish. A work of daring analysis sure to be vigorously debated, Postmodern Moments in Modern Economics is both accessible and relevant to all readers concerned about the modernist straightjacket that has been imposed on the way economics is thought about and practiced in the world today.

What do modern academic economists do? What currently is mainstream economics? What is neoclassical economics? And how about heterodox economics? How do the central concerns of modern economists, whatever their associations or allegiances, relate to those traditionally taken up in the discipline? And how did economics arrive at its current state? These and various cognate questions and concerns are systematically pursued in this new book by Tony Lawson. The result is a collection of previously published and new papers distinguished in providing the only comprehensive and coherent account of these issues currently available. The financial crisis has not only revealed weaknesses of the capitalist economy but also highlighted just how limited and impoverished is modern academic economics. Despite the failings of the latter being more widely acknowledged now than ever, there is still an enormous amount of confusion about their source and true nature. In this collection, Tony Lawson also identifies the causes of the discipline’s failings and outlines a transformative solution to its deficiencies. Amongst other things, Lawson advocates for the adoption of a more historical and philosophical orientation to the study of economics, one that deemphasizes the current focus on mathematical modelling while maintaining a high level of analytical rigour. In so doing Lawson argues for a return to long term systematic and sustained projects, in the manner pursued by the likes of Marx, Veblen, Hayek and Keynes, concerned first and foremost with advancing our understanding of social reality. Overall, this forceful and persuasive collection represents a major intervention in the on-going debates about the nature, state and future direction of economics.